There was a new rage in Konoha; it was spreading quickly, like a Black Death pandemic. It had reached over from a far end of the world, a world that the

ninja of Konoha had no knowledge of. This virus was contagious, but there was no warning to stay away from bookstands and public places where it could easily

be caught. This new virus, was none other than the Twilight Disease.

"Not another one," Naruto groaned, as he watched a group of girls flock to the bookstore. The new Twilight book had just restocked no more than

5 minutes ago, and there was already a huge lineup of crazy fangirls waiting to get their hands on a brand new copy. And because Naruto was so damn lucky,

Sakura just so happened to be lining up for this new "phenomenon".

"Ohhhhhh," she squealed, "I wonder what will happen to Bella and Edward? I can't wait to find out!"

In fact, Naruto wasn't the only cursed one. Shikamaru, Sasuke, Lee, Neji, Choji, and even Asuma were also watching from afar as the female team members

waited anxiously for the doors to open. Shikamaru facepalmed as Ino came screaming with a copy of, as he liked to put it, "that evil thing they called

'literature'".

"Heeeey Sasuke," Naruto joked, nudging him in the side, "you're losing all your fans to this "Pattison" guy. How does it feel?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Like I care, you idiot. As far as I'm concerned, you should be joining his fanclub. I saw you secretly watching that movie the other

day. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

As Naruto raised his fist to argue (blush and all), another high pitched squeak came floating through the air. Sakura ran quickly, a lovey-dovey look in her

eyes. She treated that "thing" like a God.

Carefully, Sakura tucked the book under her arm. Her hand was ready for combat. To protect it from other raging fangirls perhaps? Naruto couldn't figure it

out. All he knew was that he was doomed to a lifetime of fairytale romance and superficial vampires.

Before they could leave, Naruto noticed that one girl was missing from the crowd.

"Hey Neji," Naruto whispered, "Where's Hinata? Isn't she here to get a book too?"

Neji shook his head. It was a relief shake, definitely. "No, Hinata doesn't like that sort of thing. She thinks it's... scary I suppose? I don't really care

though. I can only take so much of this."

Everyone else was also listening in. The boys were thrilled... one female not infected. However, the girls were determined to spread the virus as much as

possible. It wasn't easily curable either.

"How can she not like it?!" Ino yelled, nose in the air, "It's the only decent piece of literature in this whole village!"

"I agree!" Sakura nodded.

No one was listening now. In fact, Sasuke and Naruto were already half way across the village. They had waved quickly and escaped as soon as possible. The

toxins would get them too if they weren't careful.

They walked silently side by side. There was nothing to talk about nowadays. Due to the overwhelming response from the book, many of the kunoichi of the

village were requesting time off from missions. Since Tsunade couldn't help but be pulled in as well, she granted most of the girls time. Many missions were

cancelled, since there weren't enough members for each squad. It was chaotic.

Naruto stopped. A group of girls came charging by, practically knocking him to the ground. Sasuke, quick with reflexes, made it just before the mob could

trample him.

"Idiot," Sasuke mumbled, catching him before he could fall. Naruto pushed himself away quickly. There was one thing that didn't change for them in all the

mess, and that was their rivalry.

"Whatever..." Sasuke said, crossing his arms. This was completely ridiculous, in his opinion. This madness had to stop and be contained. It was wrecking

assets for the village, and reputations of the ninja.

Naruto saw a rock under a tree. There appeared to be no fangirls around, so it was a safe zone until it was discovered. Sighing, he sat down and began to

think.

Sasuke smirked, "What's with the screwed up face?" He leaned against the tree.

Naruto ignored him. For minutes they were silent, Naruto changing positions every so often. Then, he slapped his hands together.

"Sasuke! We have to stop this! No one is as manly enough as me to do it, so I'm going to stand up against all those girls and tell them why Twilight
needs to be forgotten! And that we need the ninja back for the missions to continue!"

He snorted. "Good luck with that. You're just going to make a fool of yourself, not like it would make much difference."

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "I have a plan! We have to get all the guys in on it though!"

The sun rose over Konoha so slowly that morning. It seemed like an absolute eternity, an eternity that of course would never end. A small figure sat inside a large window, hair tangled and untamed. But she didn't care.

The rays of the sun just managed to reach her face, and illuminated the room around her. Yes it was messy. Yes it was dusty. But she still didn't care.

Staring into the sun was bound to damage her, she knew. Somehow, in her heart, she couldn't find the strength to care at all. To care took up so much courage and power, something that she had wasted her strength on. What was the point? In the end it was all in vain. And it left her broken inside and out.

Tick, tock, tick, tock. Oh when would her nightmare end? Even by midday, when the sky was blue and the clouds were fluffy, her nightmare dragged on. She couldn't remove herself from the window. Was it because that was the last place she saw him, peeking through her window and waving to her with a friendly smile? She couldn't decide. All she knew was that he wasn't coming back for her, and she didn't care.

Wait, of course I care! I do care! W-why w-wouldn't I care?! I... She was now struggling with herself. Her mind conflicted with her feelings, raging an unfair and unjust war. She had to put her trust in one of them, but which one? The right choice, or the easy choice? It was so confusing!

She started to slump slowly towards the window. The sun was now going down, the stars beginning to shine through an endless night sky. If only she had been strong enough to protect not only him, but herself.

"Look at me..." she mumbled, "I'm a wreck. I'm useless. I'm weak."

Then, in the midst of all her pain, there was a voice. "You're not any of those things Hinata," it whispered to her, "you are what you want to be."

She jerked her head up. "N-Naruto?"

There was no response. She smashed her hand into the window, and looked down into the street. There were no people, only a few distant lights from some of the homes. She cried and cried, until her eyes were so dry that it would take days for them to rehydrate. What was she really? He believed in everyone, including her, so why couldn't she believe in herself? Why couldn't she step up?

Suddenly, an earthly voice reached out to her and woke her from her daze.

"Hinata..." Neji called from outside the door, "You can't blame yourself forever. Do you think Naruto wanted this? There are people out here waiting for you."

Her eyes grew wide in shock. She wasn't alone, not at all. There was Kiba, Hinabi, Neji, Tenten, Shino, Kurenai-sensei, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji... everyone. THEY were waiting for HER. She would stand up! She would get herself together! The only way to get over this was to live the way he had always wanted her to live. Not in the dark, but where she was loved and she worked hard. That's how she was going to move on.